ICEIS'99

1^st International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

Setúbal, PORTUGAL

27-30 March, 1999

 

Internet and Intranet Computing

By

Thomas Greene, Ph.D.
Laboratory for Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
545 Technology Square
Cambridge MA 02139
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ABSTRACT

(Slides of the presentation)

We will examine the phenomena of the Internet and Intranet and the explosion of issues caused by the World Wide Web. Both the Internet and the Web are interrelated technological "accidents". These historical accidents occurred because the information gatekeepers of Government, industry, commerce other institutions were not aware of the information globalization phenomena that was occurring, until it was already in place. Stress in many institutions is occurring because of the rapid changes and re definitions the Internet - Web cause. For example national infrastructure components such as phone systems and newspapers are changing, the way in which commerce is conducted is changing, and even the way traditional governments operate is changing. In the near future a series of technology and regulatory changes will also occur that will enhance and but may limit the Internet and the already limited access Intranets.

Let us identify issues of fundamental importance to openness and continued globalization of information flow, especially at the gateways of information flow. Some issues of commercial standards and government regulation should be monitored as we navigate through this complex world of technology change. Failure to carefully monitor change in these issues could mean that the Internet would become a collection of Intranets and globalization of commerce and information flow would be slowed down or perhaps cease to exist.